Good ideas need to be researched

Published: Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 03:05 PM.

You know kudzu. It is that vine that covers everything in sight — the ground, bushes, trees, abandoned houses and cars and who knows what else. There is a lot of it in that one location.

Kudzu was one of those ideas I mentioned earlier. Many years ago, someone got the idea that it would make a great groundcover and be of great benefit to us in that way.

In fact, in researching a project some years ago I ran across a news article in the Feb. 5, 1942 Daily Times-News that announced the arrival of kudzu in our area. And there were classes being offered in how to properly use this plant which was being imported from its native Asia. Kudzu indeed was a great ground cover, and it would be of great benefit to our country.

But the person who came up with that idea did not look quite far enough to learn everything about this plant. It certainly would cover ground — plus everything else it could reach. It grows with great speed. In fact it might be unwise to take a nap in a kudzu patch. You might never be found again.

As I ride by that covered area, I think to myself — “we needed classes to show us how to grow this stuff?”

Actually in checking I found the vine was first introduced in the U. S. in 1876 at the big exposition held in Chicago on the 100th anniversary of the nation. But apparently it was not until the 1940s that it gained widespread use.

My research reveals that kudzu indeed has some positive uses. It is used for erosion control — the idea that brought it here — and it is said to improve the quality of the soil. It is used as animal feed — goats really like getting turned loose in a kudzu patch (but they don’t stand in one place too long).

Every so often someone comes up with a really neat idea that the person believes will have a positive impact on the way we live.

Like the telephone, or the airplane or the automobile. Really good ideas that impacted our lives in a positive way.

But sometimes that individual does not look quite far enough, stopping the research before all the answers are in.

I have been reminded of this recently as I have been making several trips a week to Greensboro. Along the way several things have captured my eye. For instance, there is a lot of tobacco being grown this year just west of Sedalia, and I have watched over the weeks as it has turned more gold each trip. I watched as the lower leaves were harvested, and now this past week, some of the fields are being given a final harvest.

And there are lots of a particular wildflower along the roadway — pretty yellow blooms with a black center. Is that a blackeyed Susan?

Then there is another plant — the one that made me start thinking about this “really good idea that impacts our lives in a positive way.”

Just west of the shopping area adjacent to Stony Creek, there is a very large area covered in kudzu.

You know kudzu. It is that vine that covers everything in sight — the ground, bushes, trees, abandoned houses and cars and who knows what else. There is a lot of it in that one location.

Kudzu was one of those ideas I mentioned earlier. Many years ago, someone got the idea that it would make a great groundcover and be of great benefit to us in that way.

In fact, in researching a project some years ago I ran across a news article in the Feb. 5, 1942 Daily Times-News that announced the arrival of kudzu in our area. And there were classes being offered in how to properly use this plant which was being imported from its native Asia. Kudzu indeed was a great ground cover, and it would be of great benefit to our country.

But the person who came up with that idea did not look quite far enough to learn everything about this plant. It certainly would cover ground — plus everything else it could reach. It grows with great speed. In fact it might be unwise to take a nap in a kudzu patch. You might never be found again.

As I ride by that covered area, I think to myself — “we needed classes to show us how to grow this stuff?”

Actually in checking I found the vine was first introduced in the U. S. in 1876 at the big exposition held in Chicago on the 100th anniversary of the nation. But apparently it was not until the 1940s that it gained widespread use.

My research reveals that kudzu indeed has some positive uses. It is used for erosion control — the idea that brought it here — and it is said to improve the quality of the soil. It is used as animal feed — goats really like getting turned loose in a kudzu patch (but they don’t stand in one place too long).

Kudzu is used in making baskets, and some in the southern United States use it to make soaps, lotions, compost and other products.

And there are those who say it has medicinal uses such as countering headaches, vertigo, allergies, diarrhea, hangovers and alcoholism.

In Asia, people use it as a food. It is starchy and is used in jelly and other food items there.

Kudzu can be killed out, but it is really hard to do so. You cannot leave a trace of it in an area, or it will come right back again.

The weather, however, can knock it down for a while. Soon, all we will see of the kudzu patches will be expanses of dried up leaves, as the plants will go dormant with the bite of the first frost — only to return in the spring.

But when I see a kudzu patch, I don’t see it as animal feed, or medicine, or soap. It is the ground cover that I think about, and I realize just how really effective it has been in that role. And as I think back to that 1942 news article, I wonder how long it was until classes were being offered in how to get rid of the stuff.

Don Bolden is editor emeritus of the Times-News. His column appears every Sunday. He can be contacted at DBolden202@aol.com.